Category Archives: Pathfinder

Pathfinder Beginner Box: Actual Play

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My son received the Pathfinder Beginner Box shortly before Christmas. Now, a little over a month later we have had time to play several sessions with it. With these sessions under our belt I wanted to post here at The Iron Tavern a little about the box from an actual play perspective.

As reviews and many forum threads across the Internet will attest to, the Pathfinder Beginner Box is simply a great product. With an easy to read Hero’s Handbook to get a player started, a GM’s Guide to help the budding new GM, dice, cardboard pawns and flipmat you have everything you need to get started in one box. If you are looking for an introduction to Pathfinder or are new to RPGs in general, the Pathfinder Beginner Box provides a very solid entry point to that audience.

I wanted the Beginner Box as a set of rules my son could easily read and make use of on his own. He is eight and I have introduced him to a house ruled down version of Pathfinder before, but the core rulebook was a bit big for him to read and grok the rules on his own. I thought the Beginner Box might simplify the game a bit and allow him to read the rule books on his own between sessions instead of having things told to him by me.

It succeeded very well at accomplishing that. He has been toting around the Hero’s Handbook and GM’s books nearly every day. He is usually looking at character options, studying spells and equipment or giving a thorough look over the monster section. He’s done mock battles between characters he has built and monsters that catch his interest. One day as he was getting out of the car he stopped, went back and covered the Hero’s Handbook up with a jacket, leaving his iPod Touch in plain view saying “I have to cover up the valuables.”

As for actual game play, we’ve also had a very good time with the sessions I have run so far for them. We started with Black Fang’s Dungeon, the adventure included in the book. It went very well and served as a good way to teach skill checks, traps and combat in small bite sized chunks. My son was playing a Dwarf Wizard and a GM controlled Merisiel and Kyra for some extra support.

Using a rather unique way around the final encounter the adventure ended as a success. The next session we played the free download adventure from the Paizo site for the Beginner Box. That went well, but he quickly complained it was too short! Part of that was simply due to choosing the most direct route up front.

The past two sessions were done with former Free RPG Day adventure, Hollow’s Last Hope. I just swapped in Sandpoint for the starting town as that is where the first sessions have taken place. It was an easy swap and both sessions of that were very popular with him.

Next weekend we will continue on with Crown of the Kobold King, also transplanted from Falcon’s Hollow to Sandpoint. I suspect it will go well also as so far the only complaint from my son has been the shorter free download adventure and that was only because it was short!

The game play has been excellent, the simplified Pathfinder rules have been easy for him to pickup and play. His younger sister joins us frequently to roll the dice and participate some as well. Her grasp of the rules is obviously more limited, but she has a great time hanging out with us as we play and does offer up ideas along the way (much to her brother’s chagrin!).

In addition to the great gaming we have had with me as GM, I strongly suspect he will be running his own adventure for me in the near future. He has hinted at it and seems to be eying the rulebooks from the GM slant. If this happens, fully expect an account of him running his first game!

Review: Hero Lab Beginner Box

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Developer: Lone Wolf Development
Price: Free
Tankard Rating: 5/5 

Lone Wolf Development, the makers of Hero Lab, released a free version of their character generation software for the Pathfinder Beginner Box. Being a current user of Hero Lab for main Pathfinder game I was anxious to download the tool for the Beginner Box and see how it looked. This was particularly good timing as I had run my first Beginner Box adventure last weekend for my son, which went very well.

Currently the software only runs on Windows 7, Vista or XP machines. A Mac version is slated for release early in 2012 for both the Beginner Box version and the main Pathfinder version. Luckily I still have a Windows box around and I downloaded the application from Lone Wolf’s site and installed it there.

The download and install were painless. I found it refreshing that Lone Wolf was not even making people provide email addresses and login information for their site. Just click the download link and off you go. The install went quickly and I was soon ready to start entering my son’s character into the software to see how it went.

First up after launching the software is a welcome screen prompting for whether you are a player in the game or the game master. Choosing game master unlocks a few more options in the software we will look at later. For now I chose player and entered my son’s character name – Dolgrim and his own name for Player name.

There is only one choice to make on this screen and there is a short paragraph on choosing one. Click the drop down and you can choose from Human, Dwarf or Elf. I went with Dwarf here and then clicked on to the Class tab.

Under class you get to choose from the classes included in the Beginner Box and the Player Option Pack download from Paizo. The choices are Barbarian, Cleric, Fighter, Rogue, and Wizard.  We went with Wizard as that is the character we had created last weekend.

Here is a look at the race and class selection screens.

Next up is the Ability Score screen. Here you are directed to follow the rules in the Beginner Box which use the 4d6 drop the lowest method. The option to use the built in dice roller is also noted. We had rolled our scores earlier so I put them in as we rolled them.

Moving on to the class tab, Wizard for us, though it will change title depending on what class you chose earlier in the process. Here we chose class specific items such as school of magic, populate the spell book and pick the spells prepared for the day. It was on this tab I discovered an error we had made last weekend and noted that we had shorted Dolgrim one spell from his spell book. Another reason I find Hero Lab a great tool! It always catches my careless mistakes!

We rolled through the next tabs pretty quickly. There is a dedicated tab for skills, feats, weapons, armor, and gear. Having chosen these this past weekend we just selected the items the character had. Painless. Dolgrim is also the proud owner of a new ring of protection +1 that he picked up on an adventure last weekend and we were easily able to add that magic item to the character sheet.

With the character created we could save it as a PDF or export a stat block which can be handy for online games and such. The PDF looks pretty good. They emulated the character sheet format the included sheets had in the Beginner Box minus some of the window dressing. The data is in very similar spots for people going between character sheets.

I tried out the interface from the GM’s side as well. Choosing the “I’m the Game master” option from the drop down brings you into this portion of the tool. It is nearly identical to the Player’s side except you get a few more options. One of the biggest is that you can choose monsters as a race. Even better you can add class levels to these monsters!

While in as a GM I also played a little with creating multiple troglodytes, adding a rogue level to one of them, and importing Dolgrim from the player portfolio I created earlier. This all worked quite well.

With multiple NPC critters and the heroes in the same portfolio I brought up the tactical console. With the tactical console a DM can use it as a combat board and also track hit points and such. You can also apply combat effects such as dazed, nauseated, and more to NPCs and characters on the tactical console to update their stats on the fly. A very powerful tool if you use (or want to use) electronic aids for play.

I am already a happy user of the full version of Hero Lab for Pathfinder, but this free release for the Beginner Box is an excellent addition to the line from Lone Wolf Development. It is an extremely easy to use character generator and the pairing with the Pathfinder Beginner Box makes a very strong combination. From the player perspective the tool provides a fast way to accurately create and level a character. With the journaling ability you can also track your gold and experience rewards from session to session.

As a GM, Hero Lab for the Beginner Box will ease your prep greatly and allow you to craft interesting creatures with class levels if you desire. Throw in the combat manager and ability to apply conditions on the fly and this can also be a very powerful tool at the table as well.

If you find yourself with the Pathfinder Beginner Box in your house this holiday season make sure to check out this free version of Hero Lab. I think you will be quite impressed with what it can do.

Tankard Rating: 5/5

Week In Review: 12/18/2011

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The last week got away from me and I missed getting out a post here at The Iron Tavern. I have had several things keeping me busy and I will put some of the related ones up here for a week in review post!

Kingmaker Transition

My weekly gaming group just transitioned into Book Five of the Kingmaker Adventure Path. I always find blending the transition from one installment to another takes a bit more work in my game preparation. Without some additional preparation it seems a little rough going from one book to another. I am not sure why this is; it really shouldn’t be any different than any other transition in the campaign.

Our most recent session found them investigating some disgruntled pixies in the forest who had a rather unusual surprise for them, then to the Kingdom of Pitax to partake in a festival there, followed by an attack on their own kingdom by some unknown armies at this time. The session went well and it feels good to have the Kingmaker campaign back on track again!

Pathfinder Beginner Box

This week was also IronPup’s birthday. He received the Pathfinder Beginner Box for it and was quite excited to unwrap it. He spent this week writing up his character. He will be going with a Dwarven Wizard for the first session. He worked through most of it on his own and I sat down to help him get his information transferred to a character sheet yesterday. Later this afternoon we will be running through the first adventure in the set. He is looking forward to it. This initial session will be part of the actual play review I write up for The Iron Tavern.

Writing Contests Galore

It seems to be a busy time for writing contests! First we have Paizo’s RPG Superstar 2012. This is an annual contest that Paizo puts on and is probably the best chance an unknown freelancer has of getting noticed by Paizo. The number of entrants is rumored to be quite high and the bar for making the first cut of 32 is also quite high. I am entering the contest this year and hope to learn some things through the process by being more vested in it with an actual contest entry.

Today is also the last day of @Brainclouds‘ design a treasure vault contest. He has posted a blank treasure map with some interesting features to act as a blank canvas to design what is in that room. I have some ideas scrawled down on a print out of a map, I just need to get them written up and submitted by midnight tonight!

Basement Remodel (a.k.a. Game Room)

And finally I have been busy the past several weekends working on phase one of a basement remodel of which a portion will be used for a game room. I am not doing anything overly elaborate. First phase consists of painting the basement walls. I believe I finally have that portion wrapped up. Phase two is to clear out way too many years of computer equipment and parts along with other things accumulated over the years. Phase three will be putting up a wall to keep the utilities and storage side of the basement hidden away. Phase four will be to improve the lighting a bit to not be so industrial.

Once those phases are complete I will begin work on getting a portion of the basement ready for a gaming area. I see a decent table and comfortable chairs as must haves. I will also include an area for some easy access to minis and hang some small speakers for background music and easy sound effects. I am also planning on hanging a webcam to possibly open the door for streaming a video of the battle mat for remote players. We will see how that all works out!

Where the Week Went

That sums up where the following week went for me. With holidays approaching it is likely to be a busy next couple of weeks!

Beginner Box Anticipation

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Anticipation? The Beginner Box has been out for well over a month you say?

Yes, I have a still shrink-wrapped, unopened Pathfinder Beginner Box on the top shelf of my closet. Why in the world do I have that? It is going to be a gift for IronPup’s rapidly approaching birthday next week. So far I have made all of my Will Saves to keep from peeling away the shrink-wrap and peering inside. This in spite of numerous blog postings, tweets and message board forums talking about how great the set is.

I will admit that I did take the money I saved by ordering from Amazon and picked up the PDF of the set from Paizo. But honestly, that’s just so I can be ready to run it when IronPup opens the set himself on his birthday! Well, that is the story I am sticking to!

That is why you have not seen a review or unboxing of the Beginner Box at the Iron Tavern yet, because it is sitting on the top shelf of my closet.

The Iron Tavern and the Beginner Box

I will be taking pictures of the set similar to my other unboxings here at The Iron Tavern. The caveat being that IronPup will be the one doing all of the opening initially. I hope to at least get some good shots of the pawns up, included battle mat and dice that come with it. That post will come pretty early after opening next week.

Even with the delayed opening I still plan on reviewing it once it has been opened. To help make up for the late review I will be holding off on reviewing until after we have had a chance to play it, then I can justify the later review with an actual play review! Not only will it be an actual play review, but it will also be one with a youth. He has some Pathfinder experience already, but through my own trimming down of the rules. I think with the Beginner Box he will be able to read and verify the rules himself and possibly build his own adventures to run me through as well.

So keep an eye on The Iron Tavern for these upcoming posts coming in the next couple of weeks. If there is anything in particular you want to know about feel free to drop a comment here and I will try to include it in the unboxing or actual play review.

Beginner Box Campaign

I also have plans as to how I will be using the Beginner Box with IronPup once he opens it. We will certainly start with the first solo adventure at the beginning of the Player’s Guide to start.

One IronPup finishes that we will roll into character creation for a character we will embark on a longer term campaign with. We’ll start with the introductory adventure and then the freely downloadable one form the Paizo site. If he is happy with his character we will probably get some friends together and start off a mini-campaign with The Crypt of the Everflame. I am hoping to get a few friends together, possibly over Skype and play a few hours on the weekend every other week.

If all goes well with that then we’ll add in Masks of the Living God and  City of Golden Death to round out the mini-campaign arc.  Where we go from there is undecided. A lot will depend on how much IronPup seems to enjoy the game and how he wants to proceed. I am looking forward to seeing how it plays out!

Your Beginner Box Plans

Now you know my plans for the Beginner Box, both for The Iron Tavern and games I plan to run with it. How have your experiences with the Beginner Box been? Anyone else planning on running a campaign with the Beginner Box and use it for more than just an intro to Pathfinder?

Kingmaker: The Exploration Blues

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My gaming group is three sessions back from our Kingmaker hiatus I mentioned in a previous post. We have had a good start back and will be starting in on part five, War of the River Kings, of the six part Adventure Path next session. We came back from hiatus with part four of the AP, Blood for Blood, though we were already halfway through that module when we came back from the hiatus. The fact that it took three sessions to wrap up what was essentially the bulk of the exploring in that installment is the topic of this post!

We have really enjoyed the Kingmaker campaign so far. The sandbox nature of the adventure path, while trickier to GM, allows plenty of room for a GM and players to make the campaign their own. Kingdom building has been quite entertaining and it has been fun to watch the kingdom grow over the many months.

Exploration Blues

The part that I find most difficult as a GM running the adventure path is the monotony of the exploration. Exploration and the quests associated with the exploration was fun for the first two books of the adventure path. It was pretty easy to come up with varied terrain descriptions and travel. The early quests were enjoyable and provided some of the early interaction with the locals before the characters were more of a driving force.

From book three, The Varnhold Vanishing, on though it has felt like a real slowdown to me as the GM. By this point in the Kingmaker campaign I had a harder time making the descriptions of terrain and travel entertaining enough. I tried of course, but after two books worth of travel and exploration of hexes this task began to feel monotonous.

I have also found it harder to get the quests properly introduced without it feeling like a laundry list of tasks. With the kingdom growing and more interactions from the characters with their neighbors the action within the adventure path by book three was steady enough that quest introductions felt shoehorned in.

And finally, it seems that several of the quests are a much better fit for adventurers hired by the rulers of the kingdom, not the rulers themselves. Giving some of the quests out just seems silly sometimes given who the characters are within the scope of the kingdom.

What to do?

Admittedly given the exploration necessity in Kingmaker to grow the kingdom it can be difficult to handle this. The need for exploration in the campaign means we cannot drop it completely from the adventure path.

I felt exploration worked well in the first two installments of the adventure path. As noted above the adventure path was fresh, it was easier to come up with unique terrain, weather and travel descriptions and the quests helped introduce the characters to the locals.

Moving past the first two installments of the adventure path I think the number of quests given should be dropped significantly. The quests that are left should be ones that the rulers of the kingdom would have real motivation to pursue. Additionally tying some of the quests together with a related thread between them could help make them more interesting.

GM prep can certainly help some with the exploration monotony by having terrain descriptions and such at the ready. This becomes a touch burdensome after time though as I can only think of so many ways to describe a grasslands and such. Several of the hexes with encounters do have some terrain description included which helps to a degree.

In my own group I have even suggested that we could bypass some of the exploration and focus on the meat of the campaign more if they wanted to hire some adventurers to take care of the work for them. They voted this idea down, rather unanimously. So maybe I am doing a better job at running the exploration than I give myself credit for!

Take Away

Kingmaker has been a great campaign so far. The group is enjoying it and I have been fun running it. This post has focused on exploration being one of the parts of the Kingmaker adventure path that I have found more difficult to run.

Despite this complaint the adventure path of a whole is a very fun one. It gives the GM plenty of room to work in as well as the players. It takes a bit more work to run because of the sandbox nature, but the rewards are there.

How are other people’s Kingmaker campaigns going? Have you had more success or ease at running the exploration bits than I have?

Pathfinder Beginner Box Minis Unboxed

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and reviewed….

Manufacturer:  WizKids
Pricing:   $12.99
Tankard Rating:  4.5/5 

The Pathfinder Beginner Box Heroes Miniatures Set arrived on my doorstep late last week much to my excitement. I had pre-ordered it as soon as I learned of it and the anticipation grew as I saw some of the pictures posted from Gen Con earlier this year.

For those that are unaware, the Beginner Box Heroes is a set of four minis made by WizKids. The Beginner Box Heroes is meant as a complement to the also recently released Pathfinder Beginner Box. Included in the set are:

  • Kyra, Female Human Cleric
  • Valeros, Male Human Fighter
  • Merisiel, Female Elf Rogue
  • Ezren, Male Human Wizard

Pathfinder fans will easily recognize these as four of the iconics in the Pathfinder game. They also match the four pre-generated characters included in the Beginner Box.

The minis come in a clear plastic case, letting the buyer see the four minis inside quite clearly. The back of the plastic case has the art from the Beginner Box cover at the top and a short description of each iconic included in the pack.

One of the first things I noticed as I popped the minis out of their plastic cases was the level of detail on these minis. For plastic pre-painted minis the detail is simply amazing. I went through my days of the D&D minis as plastic crack and these Pathfinder Beginner Box Heroes are simply awesome in their level of detail.

Let’s move on to the unboxing!

In closing, I was very impressed with the Beginner Box Heroes Miniatures Set. The paint jobs are better than I can paint and the level of detail is most excellent as shown in the pictures above. The only concern I have is they seem to be the more brittle plastic than the old D&D minis were. That leads to some minor concerns about incidental damage, but if you take care of them they should last just fine.

If this set is any predictor of how the upcoming set of Pathfinder Battles: Heroes and Monsters miniatures are going to look, we are all in for a treat!

Tankard Rating: 4.5/5

Tiaro’s Mirror of Capture

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Tiaro’s Mirror of Capture is a magic item I wrote up loosely based on an item a player in my Kingmaker campaign wanted to create. In the Kingmaker campaign the players have a museum in their city which they have been using to gather various old artifacts and tomes they find on their adventures through the Stolen Lands. They have a reasonable collection in the museum and it has been drawing people from across Golarion to see some of the artifacts stored there.

The idea for this Mirror of Capture came from the party wizard, primarily as a means to allow the group to capture an image, take a picture if you will, of some place they have been and then bring that picture back to the mirror to display in the museum. The wizard in the party is currently working on crafting this item.

The mirror I have posted below is based on that idea. I added the element of capturing a soul that can be used later to defend the mirror. Enjoy!

Tiaro’s Mirror of Capture

Aura:  Strong Divination and Illusion        CL: 20th
Slot: None                                                      Weight: 40lbs

Description:

The Mirror of Capture is a 2’x3’ mirror that has a smoky, swirling, reddish gray hue and bordered by an intricate gold worked pattern of flowering vines with painted vermilion blossoms to match the similarly colored gem fitted at the top of the mirror. The oblong gem appears to watch over those that gaze into the mirror.

The Mirror of Capture will display images on its surface when speaking a command word with the vermilion gem in the socket at the top of the mirror. The mirror can store and display a series of up to ten images. The Mirror of Capture cycles through the stored images at a constant rate, the mirror becoming the smoky, red-gray tinged hue during transitions.

A person can remove the oblong gem from the mirror and upon speaking a command word capture the image of either an inanimate or living object.  The oblong gem functions similar to a Prying Eyes spell. The gem can hold only one still image at a time until placed back into the mirror. Returning the oblong gem back to the mirror will transfer the image into the Mirror of Capture.

The Mirror of Capture also has a lesser known ability known to those who study it, the ability to capture the shadow of a soul. Capturing the shadow of a soul requires one to use the oblong gem as normal to capture an image of a living creature. Upon capturing the image the living creature must be slain and the gem coated with the blood of the creature while speaking the command word. Speaking the command word will cause the gem to collect the shadow of the slain creature’s soul.

Returning the gem to the mirror within seven days after capturing a soul will successfully transfer it to the Mirror of Capture. Failing to return the gem to the mirror within seven days will cause the shadow of the soul to expire within the gem. Placing the gem into the mirror socket transfers both the image of the once living creature and the shadow of the soul to the mirror. The Mirror of Capture will display the image as it would any other.

Speaking a second command word after the image and shadow of a captured soul are in the mirror will release the shadow. The release functions like a Greater Shadow Conjuration spell duplicating a Summon Monster VI spell that calls forth a Shadow Demon. The Shadow Demon will take the shape of the captured image.

Destruction:

Destroying the gem and mirror while combined is near impossible due to their significant power. Attempts to destroy the pair while together will fail. In addition the Mirror of Capture will defend itself by releasing one shadow soul per round up to the number currently stored in the mirror.

Attempting to destroy the gem or mirror while separated is also near impossible without coordination. In order to successfully destroy the mirror one must separate the gem from the mirror and simultaneously cast them into different active volcanoes under stormy skies.

Kingmaker Returns From Hiatus

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Several weeks ago I mentioned in my Game Scheduling post that my gaming group had been on a hiatus from the Kingmaker Campaign I am running. I had some come up that were going to keep me from being the most reliably person for an extended period of time, especially to be in the position of running the game. It appears our last game was July 7th.

Here we are, in early November ready to bring the campaign back out of Hiatus. Schedules have calmed down a little bit and I think the group is anxious to get back to a longer term campaign again. In this post I plan to look at two things. One, what helped our group stick together during our Kingmaker hiatus and two, how I plan to bring the campaign back from hiatus four months later.

Why Our Group Made It

The primary reason I think our group survived an extended break from our long running campaign is that we’re all friends. Sure we game together and actually met through gaming for several of us. But over the years we’ve become good friends. Gaming is still our primary bond, but we long ago transcended the gamers that hang out together to gamers that are friends. This is certainly a primary reason why our group handled a break from our main campaign for the period of four months. I also think it is why we avoid a lot of the problems seen in other groups as well, but that is another topic for another post!

The other factor that really helped is our group has several people willing to actually run a game. It seems several groups out there only have one person willing to run a game. If that person is unable to run then the group simply does not play. This is certainly not an issue for our group. We have at least one other person who has no issues running a game. Between the two of us we run the majority of our group’s longer running campaigns. So even when the current GM needs a break or something comes up that limits his time, there is usually at least one GM waiting in the wings ready to step up and run for the group.

Further helping our group is that we have at least another two players who are good for running a one-shot or very short campaign arcs on a fairly limited notice. This also goes far to help keep our group gaming even in uncertain times.

For times that there is short notice or perhaps our substitute GM has something come up there is always board game night. People can still meet up at our host’s house and people can play a few board games instead of the normal RPG that was on the schedule.

All of this goes far to help keep our group together even when we have to put a longer term game on hiatus for a few months. It is also a good time to experiment a bit. During the course of this hiatus we were able to play Star Wars, Supernatural, Call of Cthulhu and I even ran the Pathfinder We Be Goblins as a one-shot when a short gap needed filled.

Bringing the Campaign Back

Four months. No serious talk about the campaign during that time and we are actually bringing it back to the table. How to pull this off successfully?

As GM of this campaign I have turned first to our group’s primary tool, our message board forums. When we first formed our group we created a set of message board forums. We use the forums between sessions for planning of the next game, who is picking up food on the way, are we ordering pizza, etc. We also use it for between session recaps, roleplaying and out of character commentary to help know what we are going to be doing the next session.

My first step has been to read back through some of the threads on the boards to get a solid feel for just where we left off. I reviewed the main message board forums and went through the private forums for each character to refresh my mind with what hooks we had working on a character by character basis.

I also took this return to the campaign to ask for feedback from the group to see what they had thought was working well for the campaign so far, what could use some improvement and so on. I believe this will help bring the campaign to a strong conclusion despite the four month hiatus. I received some valuable feedback from this process and helped get the wheels turning again in my own head. It helps focus the energy for campaign prep if you know what the group thinks is working well and what could use some more work.  (If you are curious they primarily want to see more from the politics side of things and a little more depth to some of the NPCs.)

I have also been re-reading the portion of the AP we are in to get my head back in the AP and know where they have been and which important plot points are coming up. This seems an obvious course of action, but certainly not one to be overlooked.

We were at the tail end of the 4th installment of the Kingmaker Adventure Path. It looks like our first session back will be getting back in the swing of things with some exploration, making sure the political pieces are a little more obvious as to what is happening at this point and hopefully some NPC spice sprinkled in or at the very least brought back to the surface again. The group also has some interest on getting a standing army due to some prior events.

Wrapping Up

I am looking forward to assuming the GMs seat once again and getting things rolling. I am lucky to have a great group to game with – both in being patient while I took the time I needed due to outside factors and to have had a group that can fill that gap where I could not GM. I think with some of the preparation noted above we will have a strong start back to the Kingmaker campaign and have a strong finish. I am looking forward to this Thursday!

How about others out there? Have you had a game go on long term hiatus? Were you able to successfully able to bring it back to life? Any tips or techniques you felt made the return to the campaign put on hold especially successful?

D&D and Rules and Skills. Oh My!

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How did we get here?

How the rules affect the game of D&D and the related Pathfinder, have been a popular topic across various gaming blogs and twitter. Throw a dash of the skill resolution system in with these discussions as well and we have quite the melting pot for discussion!

A good amount of this discussion has been sparked by the weekly Legends and Lore column at the Wizards of the Coast site, first by Mike Mearls and more recently by Monte Cook. These columns have been talking about various areas of the rules and their effect on the game. Skills frequently are used as an example in these discussions – from climb checks to perception checks. 

Rules

The most recent Legends and Lore column talked about how the rules can encourage or discourage good game play. Monte goes as far to say that the rules are actually a form of saying “no” to a DM due to the possible restriction they put on the DM. 

I have seen several people shocked by that, but I agree with Monte Cook. That is not to say that the rules are a bad thing, they are certainly needed to provide some form of base expectations when you gather around the table. The realization that rules also restrict by defining this framework is an important one though.  When you make a rule during game design you need to also consider the fact you are limiting what the DM can do in that particular situation by the very nature of defining it. I believe good game design needs to keep this in mind.

For me once the initial ground work rules have been established for a game – combat, skill resolution, abilities, character generation, saving throws or defenses, etc. the rest of the rules should work in more of a guideline fashion. By writing them in the style of a guideline they simply build upon a core mechanic and serve to aide the DM from there on how to set difficulties and such as opposed to defining specific difficulties. Guidelines are more about being an example instead of a definition.

This is best demonstrated by skill resolution systems.

Skills

The difference between rules and guidelines always seems most evident to me in how a game handles skill resolution. The example in the Legends and Lore article also fell back to using skills and the rules surrounding them in demonstrating the various ways rules can be written and the impact on the game they have. 

I am most familiar with the 3.x/Pathfinder skill systems, but I believe these thoughts can apply equally as well to the 4e system. With that said, I am one of those that actually like the skill resolution system brought forth with the 3.x version of D&D. I think that is in a large part though because I treat them as guidelines, not as set in stone DCs. 

I also have no issue adjusting DCs on the fly in relation to other factors. These factors could be environmental or rewards for creative ideas the players come up with to circumvent some obstacle – whether it be figuring out how to climb some north face of a mountain to talking their way past the castle guards.  If the party comes up with something particular creative I will reward it. And if a snow storm is hitting that north face when the party reaches it, that task just became much tougher!

I think my willingness to take the DCs and modifiers written in the rule books and use them as guidelines in this manner as opposed to written in stone is a large factor as to why I find the skill resolution systems in 3.x/Pathfinder/4e very flexible and adaptable to many different situations.

I believe people that do not hold this same fondness of the skill systems find themselves more restricted by following the DCs exactly as written in the rule books. Or feeling uncomfortable applying modifiers as appropriate for various skill checks. Using the guidelines in the rule books as black and white rules is more restricting than simply using them as the guidelines they should be to aid the DM. 

Bringing It All Back Together

Finding the line where the rules of a game establish the framework for the game without undo restriction on the DM is a difficult line to find. I believe it is an important line for game designers to keep in mind for each rule they write.

If one subscribes to the rules can be restrictive line of thought, then great care must be taken in the wording of rules to be sure they are seen as guidelines and not rigid, unmoving statements. Even with the rules as written today we see various interpretations – from my interpretation of the skill system as guidelines to another’s interpretation of the skill section being much more rigid. Conveying to players of the game that the rules are there as an aid, not a restriction is an important consideration for game designers.

Review: Pathfinder Society Field Guide

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Author(s): Erik Mona, Mark Moreland, Russ Taylor, Larry Wilhelm
Audience: GM/Players
Price: Print – $19.99 / PDF – $13.99
Pages: 64
Overall: 2.5/5

What is in this book

Pathfinder Society Field Guide is a 64 page book that is part of the Pathfinder Campaign Setting series of books from Paizo. The book provides insight to the Pathfinders of the Pathfinder Society. This includes a brief look at Absalom, home of the Pathfinder Society the Grand Lodge. The book also includes information on the ten factions within the Pathfinder Society, various archetypes available for the three main branches of the organization, various threats a Pathfinder is apt to face, additional rules for day jobs, professions and other areas and of course many new adventuring items, magic items and spells.

The first section is a short two page section that gives a little background on the Pathfinder Society and broad details on how it is organized. It also includes a short section on the organized play system Paizo supports of the same name – Pathfinder Society.

Tacked on to the end of this section is an explanation of Day Jobs, how an adventurer can earn gold when they aren’t actively on a Pathfinder Society mission. It also covers Prestige and Fame in the Pathfinder Society Organized Play campaign. Prestige and Fame are awarded from the faction you choose for your character in Pathfinder Society Organized play. Fame acts as an upper level purchase limit and Prestige are services you faction might be able to provide by spending Prestige points.

Next up is an eight page section on Absalom. Absalom houses the headquarters of the Pathfinder Society and is likely to see a Pathfinder spend time there at some point during their career. This section includes a map of Absalom and shows the city districts within the city proper. Within each city district three areas are highlighted in slightly more detail. Examples include playhouses, various schools and colleges, flooded tunnels, and more. A portion at the end is dedicated highlighting five siege castles that circle the city from sieges laid upon the city in the past.

The next section delves into the ten factions of the Pathfinder Society, though it gets started first with more information on Fame and Prestige. This information is applicable for either Pathfinder Society Organized Campaign Play or for borrowing in your own Golarion campaign.

Each one page faction section includes a one line “motivation” of the faction, who the current leader is, a little about what a pathfinder of that faction would be like, what type of actions would gain a Pathfinder fame with that faction and an example of prestige awards one might receive with that faction. The ten factions within the Pathfinder Society are Andoran, Cheliax, Grand Lodge, Lantern Lodge, Osirion, Qadira, Sczarni, Shadow Lodge, Silver Crusade, and Taldor. These factions provide a place for nearly any type of character concept you might have for Pathfinder Society Play.

The section on Pathfinder Society Archetypes starts with further defining the Pathfinder rank system touched on during the introduction to the book. The ranks include Field Operatives, Venture-Captains, and the Decemvirate. The section continues covering the three branches of the Pathfinder Society – the Scrolls, the Spells, and the Swords. A summary is given of each branch and who the current master is at the Grand Lodge in Absalom. Each branch also receives two new archetypes appropriate to that branch.

The Field Guide section of the book outlines some of the principal organizations in Golarion that might oppose the Pathfinder Society. The rest of the chapter identifies eighteen common hazards a Pathfinder is apt to encounter during their career along with suggestions in handling such encounters. Examples include bureaucrats, dangerous wildlife, traps of various sorts, restless dead, and more.

And finally we come to the Society Resources section of the book. First up is new equipment, including the introduction of adventuring kits and some clockwork items. The rope and sunrod receive some new equipment tricks, several new magic items are introduced, and thirteen new spells.

The final portion of the Society Resources chapter covers Vanities. Vanities are flavor for a character to use and are obtained by spending Prestige Points. Example vanities are businesses, followers, memberships, property, and wayfinder enhancements. There are a handful of examples given for each category.

Thoughts about the book

The artwork in the book is up to normal Paizo standards invoking a wonderful sense of another world through the various pieces in the book.

This book is part of the Pathfinder Campaign series and has a good amount of fluff in it with crunch mixed in for those that are always in search of new items, spells and add-on rules. The fluff was good, always providing more depth to Golarion while leaving plenty of hooks for a GM to fill his or her gaming night’s with fun.

The crunch portions of the book had some hits and misses. I really liked the adventuring kits for the simplicity it brings to equipment purchasing by providing an option to purchase in a bundle. The spells were okay and there were a couple of interesting magic items.

There were equipment feats, I’m not really a big fan of those, but some might like them. Several of the optional add-on rules for Prestige, Fame, and Vanities were not really things I would incorporate to my home campaign. It certainly helps to have them explained and options listed for Pathfinder Society Organized Play though.

Overall, while I enjoyed reading this book, I think it was trying to hit too many target readers. It seemed a mix between more information for Pathfinder Society Organized play and an actual campaign book to give people more information about the Pathfinder Society in the world of Golarion. This mix gave it somewhat of a disjointed feel.

I think the book should have focused more on either Pathfinder Society Organized Play people or more on informing Golarion GMs about how the Pathfinder Society worked in Golarion. Rather it came across as trying to accomplish both which I felt made it a weaker book.

Final Rating

I would rate the book a 2.5 out of 5 for both the fluff and crunch portions of the book and give it an overall rating of 2.5 out of 5. Paizo sets the bar high for their products and what I have come to expect from them. This one just didn’t quite hit that bar they have set for themselves.